Before there was a Los Angeles, there were 11 families, recruited by
the Kingdom of Spain to begin a new pueblo in remote Alta California. These
44 people were simple, hearty and rugged. On Sept. 4, 1781 they left the
relative comfort of the San Gabriel Mission on a 9-mile trek to the site
of their new pueblo.

On this day--exactly 219 years later--a group from Glendale College
joined around 500 other Southern Californians in retracing the pobladores'
footsteps.

Apparently, the pobladores were early risers. We gathered
at the San Gabriel Mission shortly before dawn, got our free t-shirts,
were blessed by the mission priest, got photographed by local TV news crews,
and headed out onto Mission Road with police escort at the crack of dawn.

Heading out from the mission, I found myself behind Pol
Sci 106 student Vartges Essagholian.